Summary: We found fault in the way the Council collected refuse and recycling from the complainant’s (Mrs X) property. The Council has already offered suitable service improvement remedies. The Council also agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X to recognise time and trouble spent on reporting and complaining.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council failed to ensure her waste and recycling was collected regularly, especially during holidays and half-term breaks. She says it caused her frustration, posed an infestation risk and meant she paid for the service which was not delivered.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information and documents provided by Mrs X and the Council. I spoke to Mrs X about her complaint.
5. I reviewed the Council’s policy ‘Missed collections’ (Policy).
6. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legal framework

7. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area. The collections do not have to be weekly, and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.

Council’s policy

8. Where the Council’s collection vehicle is unable to gain access to a road, the crew should make up to two attempts to collect on that day. If access is still not possible they will collect it at the next collection date.
9. If the refuse/recycling collection is missed as a result of an error by the collection crew, or for any other exceptional circumstance like a vehicle breakdown, the crew will return to empty the bin as soon as possible, ideally within five working days.

What happened

10. In January 2021 Mrs X complained to the Council about many missed refuse and recycling collections from her property.
11. In its response the Council undertook to:
• Check the accuracy of its databases;
• Check the tracking device;
• Speak to the crew to find out reasons for missing Mrs X’s collections;
• Resolve the issue for the future.
12. In the beginning of August 2021 Mrs X told the Council it failed to collect her refuse for the past four weeks and missed some of her recycling collections. She raised ongoing problems with cars parked along her street which block access to her bins. She asked the Council to consider alternative ways to empty her bins.
13. From June 2021 to July 2022 the Council failed to empty Mrs X’s bins 17 times:
• general refuse – 13 times;
• recycling – four times.
14. Most of the collections were missed in the summer months and in March. Some were also missed in April, June and October. After some missed collections the crew reported they could not access Mrs X’s bins because of cars parked along the street.
15. In the beginning of July 2022, after reporting again missed recycling collection due to the crew’s inability to access her bins, Mrs X asked for the Council to escalate her complaint.
16. A month later the Council provided its stage two response. Having inspected customer service records, crew records and following discussions with the collection supervisors and managers the Council apologised for its failings and told Mrs X it would:
• Change the way the crew drives into her street which should make the access easier;
• Ask the crew to routinely try a second collection if they cannot access on their first attempt. For recycling collection the Council said it had added an alert to the system as a reminder and provided a written memo for the crews as a further reminder;
• Monitor Mrs X’s collections and check with the crew on each collection day;
• Recommend referring parking issues for a review to a relevant team to check if parking restrictions can be added;
• Undertake wider service improvements by:
1. Reviewing collection service to streamline the service and make it more efficient;
2. Recruiting a systems administrator who in a timely manner will be able to review the crew’s reports, identify any issues and resolve them.
17. After the stage two response the Council missed collecting Mrs X’s recycling three times in August and twice in October. The reason for this was capacity and availability of staff rather than the lack of access. All refuse collections happened on the usual collection days, one of them on the second attempt.
18. In the response to my enquiries the Council said it has developed the way of accessing Mrs X’s property to collect her bins by refuse and recycling vans going forward instead of reversing. Consequently since its stage two response only on one occasion cars parked along Mrs X’s road prevented access to her bins, but refuse got collected at a different time on the same day.
19. The Council also said it was implementing service improvements:
• Developing a new process to ensure compliance with the Council’s policy on what to do when parked cars block access to the bins;
• Remodelling recycling rounds to help to address the capacity issues and Mrs X’s location will benefit from being moved on a smaller collection vehicle;
• Plans to purchase a new bailer to speed up the drop off of recycling materials and free some capacity;
• Plans to remodel black bin collection with consideration given to collect Mrs X’s recycling by a small bin lorry.

Analysis

20. There has been a long-term problem with collecting Mrs X’s refuse and recycling. In its stage two response the Council correctly identified its failings and offered remedies.
21. The Council’s actions to prevent parked cars from blocking access to Mrs z’s bins proved effective. Only once since the stage two response Mrs X’s refuse could not be collected because of the lack of access to the bins, but the crew completed this collection at a different time on the same day. This means the Council’s failure to provide a written memo for the crews as a reminder of the need to attempt a second collection, established as a result of my enquiries, did not cause injustice to Mrs X.
22. The Council failed to consistently collect Mrs X’s recycling since its stage two response not because of the lack of access but capacity and staffing issues. Capacity issues, in addition to the difficulties with access, seem to have been an underlying problem for the Council’s difficulties in performing its refuse and recycling collection duties. This is suggested by the dates of Mrs X’s missed collection which mainly fall in the summer holidays and other school breaks across the year, where there are many visitors to the area.
23. The Council consistently failed to address the capacity issues when collecting recycling, which is fault. This caused Mrs X injustice as she had multiple missed collections which caused her frustration. She spent a lot of time and trouble in reporting missed collections and complaining to the Council.
24. I accept the service improvements undertaken by the Council and listed under paragraph 19 of this decision as the way to prevent missed collections in the future.

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Agreed action

25. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault identified, we recommend the Council within four weeks of my final decision complete the following:
• Send a written apology to Mrs X;
• Pay Mrs X £100 to acknowledge time and trouble spent on reporting and complaining to the Council.

The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

26. I uphold this complaint. I found fault in the way the Council collected refuse and recycling from Mrs X’s property which caused her injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is now at an end.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman